Follies Theatre
337 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
337 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 70 comments
Going back to the Grotto at 341 S. Main, if I can digress briefly, this photo was on the LA Times “Daily Mirror” site. The photo was taken shortly before the Grotto closed in 1953. The Follies would be the building on the right:
http://tinyurl.com/6p6naq
My mistake. February 1939. Thanks for picking that up.
Here is a February 1935 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/26nyfo
Here is a 1944 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2mcsm3
This 1935 ad promises 80 people on stage, “mostly girls”. I would hope so:
http://tinyurl.com/26bgfk
Here is a letter to the LA Times dated 11/16/67. Both the Follies and the Burbank are now gone, of course:
“A few days ago I read with interest a Times article reporting the possible consideration of the official dedication of the Follies and Burbank theaters on Main Street as historical landmarks. At this time when Los Angeles is growing in national importance as a theater center the proposal has merit”
The writer, Ralph Freud of UCLA’s Theater Arts department, goes on to list some of the famous plays and players that performed live at the two theaters. I guess the landmark argument didn’t make too much of an impression on the powers that be.
In the film “Uptown Saturday Night” a few of the theatres located on Main Street make small cameos. The theatre seen in the film are the Follies, Burbank, Optic and the Regent theatre.
The Grotto closed its doors forever on December 28, 1953.
The LA Times reported the demolition of the Follies on May 31, 1974.
Here is the Grotto in 1918:
http://tinyurl.com/mla2o
I have a book of columns by Matt Weinstock – I know he mentioned the Grotto a few times. If you look at the picture I posted on 12/2/05, you can see the top of the Grotto at 341.
Here’s something only indirectly related to L.A.’s movie theatres, but I found it fascinating. From long ago I recall people mentioning a popular Main Street restaurant called Goodfellows Grotto, which closed in the 1950s. I believe Matt Weinstock wrote about it in his column from time to time. Goodfellows was located just south of the Belasco/Follies and was a favorite of various theatrical folk.
So, I looked it up on the Internet and found this interesting page which has a brief article about the restaurant and its founder, Matteo Dujmovich. It mentions several of the theatres in the neighborhood and provides a vivid thumbnail sketch of what life on Main Street was like during the first half of the 20th century.
Correct.
ken, in that photo of the van nuys building, do you know what that place that is now the Farmer’s Merchant’s Bank says? Mehesey’s Free Museum?
Al’s Men’s Shop on the far left is part of the theater building in this 1954 photo. It’s unknown if the Follies Village store had anything to do with the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/24j6ys
If you have a magnifying glass, you may be able to see the first Belasco in this 1903 photo, unless it was in the process of being demolished. It would have been at the very top of the photo:
http://tinyurl.com/29y727
Thanks Joe…I’ll put the Wonderland items on the Jade page.
Ken mc: The Wonderland is listed at Cinema Treasures under its later name, the Jade Theatre which, according to the comments, lasted into the 1970s at least. I have no memory of it at all, though I passed along that block hundreds of times over earlier years.
I think you found a new theater ken mc….I guess there was a Wonderland on Broadway first and then Main:
June 08, 1908
AUCTION
430-432-434 So. Broadway
(Old Wonderland Theater)
December 26, 1909
The following items are from the Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer. A.C. Martin is preparing plans for a one-story brick
theater building 32x120 feet, to be erected for the owners of the Wonderland Theater on South Main street. It will have a stamped metal front, marble lobby with tile floor, and cement floors in auditorium. The cost will be about $20,000.
September 09, 1921
FIRE IN THEATER
‘Crowd in Near Panic as Flames Burn Cinema Operator'
While attempting to smother a blazing roll of film which caught fire from the heat of a projector in the operating room at the Wonderland Theater, at 315 South Main street early last evening, Milton Guion, age 23 years, the operator, was severly burned on the arms and face. A near panic was caused in the theater when the flames spread from the projector to the interior of the operating room. Many persons rushed to the street. Chemicals quickly subdued the blaze. The fire damage was nominal, but the crowd blocked traffic for more than twenty minutes.
I should have added that the directory listing was in 1939.
The LA city directory lists the Wonderland Theater at 315 S. Main. Have we placed any theaters on the west side of Main between 3rd and 4th other than the Follies? If not I will add the Wonderland.
The theater has been replaced by the Ronald Reagan SOB:
http://tinyurl.com/ycn6jn
You can see the Follies on the left in this 1924 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/rroxy
This USC photo is dated, rather vaguely, 1910-1919. I posted a smaller version from the LA library last September, but this picture shows more detail:
http://tinyurl.com/jmcnp
ken mc: My guess would be that the Belasco photo you linked to on September 19 is the one that the library mis-dated. It looks earlier than 1920. For one thing, everything looks too tidy for Main Street in 1920.